…as Nigeria records fresh 665 cases, eight deaths
Upon his return from a 19-day visit to the United Kingdom (UK), President Muhammadu Buhari, along with those in his entourage, has commenced isolation, owing to a COVID-19 scare.
While abroad, Buhari reportedly went for state functions and routine medical checkups.
There too, he paid a visit to the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Tinubu, believed to be on medical retreat.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, disclosed to various news outlets on Sunday that his principal had, statutorily, commenced isolation.
He noted that it was in accordance with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s guidelines for international travel.
Members of the President’s delegation to the UK included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba; Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Mr. Ahmed Abubakar, and the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Munguno (retired).
Meanwhile, the NCDC said on Sunday that it had 665 new cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths across the country, as at Saturday.
The NCDC made this known via its verified website, noting that the country additional infections, though higher than the 636 recorded as at Saturday, raised the cumulative cases to 181, 962.
The NCDC also said the country’s fatality toll from the disease now stands at 2,219.
The public health agency noted that new cases were reported from 13 states- Lagos (369), Anambra (68), Oyo (63), Akwa Ibom (48), Kwara (28), Rivers (26), Edo (21), Ekiti (15), Ondo (13), Delta (7), FCT (3), Ogun (3), and Gombe (1).
The NCDC stated that its report includes six states with zero cases reported: Kaduna, Kano, Nasarawa, Osun, Plateau and Sokoto.
It added that a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 2, continued to coordinate the national response activities.
The NCDC stressed that since the beginning of the pandemic, the country had collected over 2,589,130, samples across the federation.
It similarly noted that 12,917 cases were still active in the country with many being managed at accredited isolation centres while others were under home care management.
The agency said that a total of 117 people recovered and were discharged from various isolation centres in the country on Saturday, with total recoveries nationwide since the outbreak of the pandemic clocking 166,826.